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• By the late 1990s, some 93% - about 3-1/2 million miles - of American highways were built with asphalt. The paving work starts at hot mix plants, like Black Gold, where fine aggregates (sand or gravel) are mixed with a binder made from bituminous, an oil by-product. This mixture is heated to 250° to 375° Fahrenheit; too hot and structurally weakening carbon particles form, too cold and it won't compact correctly. (This is why road repairs/building are done in warmer weather, when temperatures remain stable for long periods.) Dump trucks deliver the hot mix to specialized pavers that apply the asphalt mixture at a uniform depth, width, slope and temperature, ready for surfacing and sealing by compactors.
• Requiring a steady supply of raw materials in bulk (A good paving crew can lay up to 3,000 tons of asphalt in a single shift!), your new hot mix plant will provide plenty of car-loadings on your modern HO Scale railroad.
• This highly detailed kit is complete with oil tanks, two conveyors, a three-bay mixing bin with conveyor, furnace with ductwork, rotary mixing kiln, piping, double loading silos and colorful decal signs. The kit has also been designed to accept a Seuthe smoke generator (#667-117, sold separately) that adds animation to your finished model.
• Much of the sand and gravel arrives in 3-bay hoppers, though some roads use Ortner Aggregate Hoppers. These distinctive cars carry money-saving loads of 100 tons and are fitted with special rapid discharge, bottom unloading doors. Walthers cars are available in singles (932-7050 Series) and three-packs (932-37051 Series), which feature four different car numbers for each roadname. The material can be moved at the plant with the Wheel Loader (933-3141). Bituminous is shipped in insulated tank cars to keep it in a fluid state while in transit and during unloading.
• Loads-in/empties-out operations can be modeled with the Deluxe Glacier Gravel (933-3703) kit, which simulates the rock crusher/washer found at quarries. Rock can be moved here with the Heavy-Duty Wheel Loader (933-3162) and Terex Dump Truck (933-3162).